Buckley and Mailer: The Difficult Friendship That Shaped the Sixties

University of Illinois historian Schultz’s social history unfolds as Norman Mailer and William F. Buckley—heroes of the left and right, respectively—get to know one another in 1962 and become “near-allies in the battle to overturn the Liberal Establishment.” The book is not a dual biography, nor does it span entire careers: it ends in 1969, with Mailer’s entry into the New York City mayoral race when he was 46 and Buckley was 41. Mailer emerges as the adored protagonist, an all-around mensch, and the political prophet of the radical left. Buckley is treated more formally and critically. The book’s central premise—that Mailer and Buckley were trusted confidants—is a stretch. Schultz also dwells fondly on cafe intellectuals and glamorous literary celebrities—such as Truman Capote, whose exploits are amply covered elsewhere—at some expense to the book’s seriousness. Nevertheless, this “difficult friendship,” as Mailer called it, illuminates the decade’s larger cultural context. Mailer and Buckley were bright, magnetic intellectual leaders and publicity hounds with superhuman energy; both loved America but in different ways. Schultz navigates the 1960s through these two larger-than-life men, offering plentiful anecdotes in an informed, entertaining style. (June)